Why You’re Not Educating Your Audience Right (and 4 Ways to Start)

Some products are easier to explain than others, but educating your potential customers has never been more important.

Traditional marketing methods are becoming outdated and buyers are taking longer to convert. If you’re trying to attract leads and close sales without building trust, quieting fears, or explaining the benefits of your offering? You’re going to miss opportunities left and right.

Here are the Facts

3 out of 4 of B2B customers are NOT ready to buy when first introduced to your product or brand (MarketingSherpa).

65% of B2B marketers have not set up lead nurturing campaigns. (MarketingSherpa).

Which means if you’re just one of the many companies throwing unqualified leads at your sales team just to be chewed up and sent packing? You’re not educating your audience right.

But don’t worry.

I’m going to give you four ways you can start showing your nurturing side today. I can’t promise you’ll be a marketing-funnel expert after a few hundred words, but you’ll certainly have the tools to take action.

Number One: Give Something Away

You probably have an email list or some other way of gathering your prospects’ contact information, but it may not be a focus for you at this point. It should be from now on.

Gathering emails is a great way to start warming up those cold leads before your pitch. People change their email address less often than they change their physical address, so it’s a very valuable weapon in your marketing arsenal.

In return for something that valuable, you’ll have to give something away that is worth the exchange to your target audience. Typically, it’s called a “lead magnet”, and here are several examples of what it could be:

A Video Course

A Series of Tips (via email for several days)

An eBook (Traditional Lead Magnet)

A Free Consultation

Special Report (White Paper, Industry Publication)

Webinar or Audio Report Access

Free Online Tool

Make it relevant to the subscriber and related to your offerings. For instance, a guide on retaining restaurant employees when you offer a food inventory SaaS product.

The ticket is to make sure that your lead magnet is valuable to your target audience independent of what you do. The last thing anyone wants from you is a 12-page eBook that’s nothing more than a self-serving ad for your business.

For example, we offer resources about telling a better brand story. You don’t need to sign on with Explainify to tell a better brand story (although we think it helps!) – you can begin building a better story with what you’ve already got.

Number Two: Give Them What They Need

An email is valuable and the old internet adage is still correct, “The money is in the list”. The money is in there, but you’ll have to work it out.

You could smack it around like a piñata until small pieces of candy and bits of cardboard fall to the floor… OR you could turn it into a consistently high-performing member of your sales team.

According to HubSpot, once a person is aware of your brand and has made an initial interaction, they’ve moved on to the evaluation stage.

That’s right, you’re under the spot light. What do you do?

Now that you’ve already shared helpful, actionable content with your new friends, it’s time to point them toward content that highlights why they signed up, portraying the pain points that you already know they have. Swoop in to remove any reservations they might have about you with webinars showcasing your products, case studies of those who’ve used your services, and explainer videos that answer their remaining questions.

Explainer videos have proven to improve the click through rate of emails by 200% to 300% (according to Forrester).

Number Three: Give Them a Decision

Now, it’s time to put a little pressure on the close. You’ve been warming up leads with a steady stream of content, and you’d probably like to see your efforts pay off. But before you send them to the sales team, you can send a few types of content to the bottom of your new funnel. Including:

Free or Discounted Trials

Free Samples

Live Demonstrations

Offer Them a Chance to Schedule a Call

The key is to let them know that they’ve come to a fork in the road – and it’s time to make a decision.

Closing is most likely your neck of the woods, and your current processes can likely be integrated at this point – just make sure to maintain your message.

Number Four: Keep Talking

The worst mistake marketers make with with their funnel is stopping all communication after the sale. Not only is this practice bad for business – it’s pretty rude.

If your product is particularly hard to explain, it may be just as hard to use. Take the time to create content with your customers that can help them make the most of your product or service – FAQs, tutorials, and the like. Then be sure to actually share it with them!